브후테마스의 예술 교육 혁신과 혁명적 ‘삶의 예술’

Abstract

For Russian artists of the so-called ‘revolutionary’ art of the 1910s and 1920s, the integration of life and art was a common concern: they sought to create an authentic ‘art of life’ that fully reflected the realities of Soviet Russia, represented by socialist ideology and technological advances in the newly reorganized political and social order after the Revolution. In the 1920s, VKhUTEMAS, a Moscow institution of higher learning in the arts, united left-wing artists in close association with INKhUK, and spearheaded artistic debates and creative experiments ranging from the “construction versus composition” debate to Constructivism and production art. The establishment of the State Free Art Studio and VKhUTEMAS in response to social demands for reforming art education to meet the needs of the new era is a prime example of innovation in Russian art education in the 20th century. In particular, the Basic Course of VKhUTEMAS, which was based on Constructivist ideology and encompassed the realm of production and industry, was a laboratory for the training of “artist-constructor” required by society and for the creation and education of true art of life. In this paper, I will examine the founding and development of VKhUTEMAS from the revolutionary period to the mid-1920s, focusing on its Basic Course, and identify its meaning and role in the transition of Soviet art in the 1920s and in Russian avant-garde art in general.